Objective: The objective of the study was to investigate affective symptoms and pharmacological treatment in bipolar I disorder patients, and to test whether self-rated symptoms could predict hospital admissions during a 12-month follow-up period.
Methods: A total of 231 outpatients with clinical bipolar I disorder were recruited. The clinical diagnoses were reassessed by a semi-structured interview. Twenty-four patients (10%) was reclassified as bipolar disorder type II or schizoaffective disorder (bipolar type). Medication status was recorded and symptoms were assessed with the self-rating scale AS-18. Patients were prospectively followed for 12 months and hospitalizations during that time were recorded.
Results: More than half (60%) rated themselves as normothymic. Mixed affective symptoms were more common than either depressive or manic/hypomanic symptoms. The admission rate during 1 year of follow-up was 13% (95% C.I. 8-17%). Patients which at baseline rated themselves high in either mania or in depression had a significantly increased risk for hospitalization (OR = 3.15; 95% C.I. 1.38-7.19).
Conclusions: The findings should encourage clinicians to use patient self ratings in order to identify patients with a high risk for hospitalization for targeted interventions.